How to Refresh Your Website Content For Max SEO Ranking

by John McDougall, President & CEO of McDougall Interactive

Ranking well on Google, or any other search engine for that matter, requires that you step into the rapidly-evolving realm of content marketing.

Here, you need to be quick on your feet to keep up with the latest trends both overall and in your niche market, and you need to be regularly pushing out valuable content geared towards your target audience.

This can be difficult to accomplish for new brands or small businesses that need to refine or strengthen their online presence.

Here are my expert content marketing tips on how you can refresh the content on your website to maximize your ability to rank highly in Search Engine Page Results (SERPs).

Publish New Blogs On Fresh Topics Regularly

One of the most important things you can do is publish new content, such as blogs, on relevant topics in your industry on a consistent basis.

Google wants to know that you’re an authority in your field and that your website is on top of the latest topics and content trending in your niche.

Publishing new blogs often will also give you additional content to post on your social media channels, which is a great way of recycling valuable content and maximizing your ROI on every paragraph.

Blogs are great to share with your email list as well to keep top of mind.

Make Old Short Posts Longer

An easy way to add content to your website and increase your topical authority is to go back over old posts that are shorter than what will rank well and increase their length.

Look for pages on your website without a lot of content on them. In fact, anything under 1,700 words can get a boost – even according to DIY platforms like Wix.

In 2022, posts coming in at lengths between roughly 1,700 words and 2,400 words performed the best with search engines than shorter pages at just 300, 600, or even 1,000 words.

Look at the top-ranking pages for your post’s target keyword and consider what information they’re covering on the topic.

What is your page missing that their pages have? Can you combine topics from multiple sources to make your page the most comprehensive on a particular subject?

Adding even a sentence or two can send a signal to Google that you still care about your old posts.

Optimize Pages That Are Performing Well

Search engine algorithms are finicky, and most content marketing experts know to expect pages to fluctuate in rank over time.

However, you can attempt to push pages that are already performing well even higher on the SERPS by further optimizing them for your target keyword and related keywords.

For example, if you see from an Semrush report that you have a post ranking #12 for “podcast marketing services,” going back over the page and seeing how you can improve optimization for that keyword could help boost it even just a spot or two to #9 or #10. This could start to get you clicks whereas when you’re on the second page, clicks are not likely…

Getting on the first page can be tough though, so be prepared to do this ongoing as you monitor the performance of each post on your website.

Add Rich Media Content Like Video or Podcasts

Google is prioritizing rich media content over written content for some searches, particularly video. Although both are necessary for strong brand authority in today’s saturated and highly competitive market.

Consider adding more video and podcast content, and be sure to maximize those posts with written transcripts of the videos or podcasts. This allows you to really wring out every bit of value out of your marketing budget and the content you pay to produce.

If you have an old post that was a text version of or on the same topic as a podcast you did, you can add a sentence or two to the old text post linking to the podcast or even embedding the player in the post.

Link Related Old Pages to New Pages & Vice Versa

Each page you publish on your website should have a handful of links or more to other related pages on your website, assuming that you have a few pages on your site already. E.g., if you write a blog about podcast tools, you’ll want to link to your high-ranking page for “podcast marketing.” This can help push the latter page further up the SERPs.

You can also do the reverse when you create new pages. Go into old pages that use your target keyword for the new page you just created and use that text as an anchor to link to the new page. This will help push the new page up the SERPs for its chosen keyword.

Get Help Refining Your Content Marketing Today

If you’re a small to mid-size business or new brand that needs a leg up refining your website, I can help. As the President and CEO of McDougall Interactive and expert content marketer since 1995, I have a number of different resources in my tool belt to help small organizations and individual clients rank better.

Reach out today for more information at 877-623-4291. We can go over your website’s strengths and weaknesses and discuss possible solutions that meet both your needs and your budget.